Schools Add Discipline Policy For Disabled

PALOS PARK — Officials with Palos Community Consolidated School District 118 have adopted a new policy to govern any discipline given to students with disabilities.

The Board of Education voted 7-0 Tuesday in favor of a three-sentence addition to the school code that addresses disciplinary action for misconduct by disabled students.

In short, the policy reads that school officials must take the disability into account when determining what kind of punishment can be given to a student who misbehaves.

"District 118 will abide by the requirements of state and federal law relating to and governing the discipline and/or punishment of disabled students," the new policy reads, in part.

Supt. Rosemarie Carroll said the new policy was meant to ensure that the district would not be found in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which tries to ensure that people with disabilities are treated as much like other people as is possible.

Until this week, the school district's code did not make any distinction between disabled and non-disabled students, although Carroll said principals of the district's three schools have tried to ensure that disabled students were not disciplined more harshly than other students.

That will not change, she said.

"We're making sure that we're modifying our procedures to be in compliance with the law," Carroll said. "But we're still pretty much going to do things the same way we already are."

The district has 2,160 students. Of those, 319 will be covered by the change because they have physical disabilities or other special education needs.